You can't have one without the other.
Many people try to take healing out of the atonement. And you can't do it. Many
people say it's the sovereignty of God that some are healed and that some are
not healed. And there is a sovereignty of God but you can't use it in the
area of healing. I am going to show you in the scriptures that you cannot
separate the two. so many miracles John 12:37, "But though he
had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him."
There are many people in the world today who know the miracles of Jesus, for
some reason they will not believe on Jesus. Verse 38, "That the
saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath
believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?"
Isaiah said this 700 years before Jesus was born. There are many people today
who are not believing the report of the Lord. They are believing the report of
what is in their body and the doctor's diagnose. This scripture is talking about
the Jewish people. They heard the truth but they did not believe it. Light
rejected always brings darkness. The Jewish people rejected the light, so
naturally darkness fell upon the land. Faith ignored becomes unbelief.
Their decisions about Jesus brought God's action of hardening. The Jews have a
hardened heart. It was not predestined to be that way. Verse 39,
"Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again."
Why couldn'tthey believe? Because of the same reason many
of them cannot believe today. Their hearts have been hardened. They have
rejected the light. They have no faith. Verse 40, "He hath blinded
their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes,
nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal
them." It sounds like God hardened their hearts. God allowed their
hearts to be hardened, but he did not harden their hearts. What he did he had no
choice because they totally rejected him. Verse 41, "These
things said Esaias, when he saw HIS glory and spake of Him." Isaiah
got into the presence of God; he saw his glory over in Isaiah 6:8-9. This is why
he was able to make this statement 700 years before it ever happened. Verse
42, "Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but
because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out
of the synagogue." They believed he was Jesus but they would not
confess him. That's why we have in Romans 10:9-10 how you receive Jesus. You
must believe in your heart and confess with your mouth. They would
rather serve man then serve a living God. That's why the Jews heart was
hardened. They would rather serve the Pharisees of that day. They did believe;
they came that close to receiving Jesus, but they would not confess him. God
didn't harden their hearts. He gave them every chance.

Isaiah 53:1, "Who hath
believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?"
Who is the arm of the Lord revealed to? Not only to the Jews but to the whole
nation, gentiles and the whole world. Isaiah 52:10, "The Lord hath
made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the
earth shall see the salvation of our God." "His holy arm"
is the work of redemption. It is the death, burial and resurrection. There is no
nation that this has not been made known to. The arm of the Lord is revealed to
those who will believe his report. It's only revealed to those who believe the
gospel. That is how you receive your healing. Isaiah 53:2, tells you why
you can receive healing and how healing came into the world. "For he
(Jesus) shall grow up before him (Father God) as a tender plant and as a root
out of a dry ground; he hath no form nor comeliness; and when he shall see him,
there is no beauty that we should desire him." It's not deity that
will heal you today. It's because a man came by the name of JESUS.
That's the humanity of Jesus and that's why you can be healed. Because JESUS
brought the healing from heaven down here to earth as a man that you and I can
respond to. You and I cannot respond to deity but you can respond to a man. You
can respond to Governor Bush and Vice President Gore because they are men. You
listen and you will be swayed one way or the other. Jesus Christ came here not
as deity but as humanity so that you can respond to him when he said, I am
the word andyou can be healed. This is what verse 2 is saying. Did
you ever try to get a root to grow out of dry ground. This is talking about the
supernatural birth of JESUS. There was no majestic splendor about how
Jesus came into this earth. You talk about dysfunctional people. That's a
buzz-word that has been going around for about five years or so. You're not
dysfunctional. Jesus was dysfunctional when he came into this earth. If you came
into the earth like He did then you can say you are dysfunctional. People say, I
don't have a mother; I don't have a father. Jesus was conceived by the Holy
Spirit. He did not have a normal beginning. But he took that dysfunction
and he did something with it. And that's what He's telling the church today.
We are all dysfunctional. There isn't anybody here that's not dysfunctional. But
people like to dwell on that word. Jesus Christ is the one who can help your
dysfunction. He will help you if you will give him a chance. Jesus as a human
being gave you and I an example that He can do it and you can do it through Him.
You can also receive your healing through Him. You can take your dysfunction
today and put it on the altar, put it underneath the blood once and for all and
stop talking about where you were. It's over and done with. The blood of Jesus
Christ has covered your dysfunction and you can come out of it if you will take
his word and apply it to your life. Verse 3, "He is despised and
rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it
were our faces from him; he was despised, and weesteemed him not
(or we did not consider him)." You did not grow up despised. Jesus
was despised his whole life. How would you like to walk with that? And we
complain, and we cry because we have been rejected in life by people. You must
take that rejection and put it all under his blood. That is what Jesus Christ
went to the cross for. To take that blood and cover everything you have in you. All
the rejection you have had in your life, today, once and for all, put it under
the blood of Jesus Christ. You see we did not consider him in the past andthat's why we have theproblems that we do today.
Now overall as a church we are growing into the things God has provided for
us. But the world is not doing very well because they have never
considered Jesus. When you consider Jesus there is nothing that we cannot
overcome. Verse 4, "Surely he hath borne our grief's, and carried
our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and
afflicted." "Grief's" are all your diseases.
"Sorrows" are all your pains. Because of the life that Jesus lived,
the people said he deserved it and he was smitten of God and afflicted. Notice
verse 3 and verse 4 is talking about sickness. verse 5 talks about you sin. "But
he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the
chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are
healed." Those "transgressions" are the sins you carried
before you received Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Some people have carried
these transgressions over into their life after they have received Jesus as
their Lord and Savior, and it's these transgressions that are giving us all the
problems. Because the transgressions are in our sin nature. And the sin nature
is in your body. The "iniquities" is the sin nature that is in you
because of what Adam did. That iniquity has been removed from your spirit, but
some of the rebellion is still in your flesh. Jesus took the
"chastisement" so you wouldn't have to take it and he could put peace
on you during you life.

That's why these verses are so
important. You can't have one without the other. Jesus has redeemed you not only
from sin but he has redeemed you from sickness. Sickness is a byproduct of sin.
If you sin, sickness comes with it. Natural gas is the byproduct of petroleum.
Sickness and sin comes together. But you have been redeemed from both of these.
This is what God wants you to see today. That's why it's a lie that some people
think God heals some and not others. You are healed. And he shows us this so
very clearly.

Here's an example. A few weeks ago we
talked about three exoduses. The first exodus we look at was when Israel came
out of Egypt. What did they do when they came out? The first thing God told
Moses to do was to have a Passover. In that Passover they killed the lamb and
they took the blood of that lamb which was a typology of Jesus Christ. They took
the blood and they told the people to go back into their houses and when they go
inside to put the blood on the outside and they would be protected. That was the
atonement. They took Psalm 91 and they went into the secret place. Psalm 91:1,
"He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under
the shadow of theAlmighty." That's a safe place,
where we have to go. When you are fighting something in life, the only way you
can do it is to go back into the secret place of most High and get with him.
Because if you stay anywhere near the world, it's going to be very hard to get
rid of the habit or whatever you want to do. When you get into the secret place
of the most High, the blood of Jesus Christ will protect you from what you are
trying to get away from. When they took communion, He said, I want you to eat it
in hast. Because once you eat it he said, I'm going to take you out of Egypt.
You see, once you receive Jesus you have got to draw close to him and fasten
your eyes on him as never before. Because if you don't, and if you take your
eyes off Jesus you will be miserable. So focus your eyes back on Jesus.

Psalm 105:37, "He brought
them forth also with silver and gold; and there was not one feeble person among
their tribes." Those millions that came out of Egypt it says there
was not one sick among them. Not only were they saved, but they were healed
under the atonement. Let's look at Hezekiah. Hezekiah was 25 years old when he
became king. Israel had been out of the word of God for 275 years. They had
never received Passover during that time and because of that the whole nation
was sick. They had everything wrong with them. And Hezekiah went to the word of
God and he said, This nation has to get back to the Passover. Usually the
Passover comes in April, the first day of the month. But because of the sins of
the priests they had to delay that Passover one month and they went into the
second month, May. So the priests would have the time to sanctify themselves.
The reason they had to sanctify themselves is that God could not have brought
forth the healing to the people. Once the priests were sanctified then they
called in all of Israel and they had the Passover. Over in Chronicles it says
they were all healed. They took the Passover, the atonement was made and then
healing came to the whole nation. Again, you can't have one without the
other. When you have the atonement you always have healing.

God will do anything to restore people.
God is showing us that whatever it takes to restore you God is with you today.
Some of you are having a hard time in certain areas of your life. But God is not
going to give up on you. He will stay with you until you are restored. He is
showing us in this story about the leprosy that came upon Israel. Why did
leprosy come upon the people of Israel? Because there was sin in their land. Why
has Hiv or Aids come upon our people in these end days? Because of sin.
Leviticus 14:1,
"And the Lord spake unto Moses saying." Verse 2, "This
shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing; He shall be brought
unto the priest." verse 3, "And the priest shall go forth out of the
camp; and the priest shall look and behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed
in the leper." verse 4, "Then shall the priest command to take for him
that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet
and hyssop." All these words have to do with the resurrection of
Jesus. Verse 5, "And the priest shall command that one of thebirds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water." One
of the birds represents Jesus Christ. The other bird represents you and I. Verse
6, "And for the living bird (you and I), he shall take it, and the cedar
wood (talks about the cross) and the scarlet (the suffering Jesus went through),
and the hyssop (purification), and shall dip them and the living bird in the
blood of the bird that was killed over the running water." Verse 7,
"And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy
seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose
into the open field." You and I have been totally set free by the
blood of JesusChrist. Verse 18, "And the remnant of
the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall pour upon the head of him that is
to be cleansed; and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the
Lord." Why does an atonement have to be made? He was cleansed of
the sin but now he had to be healed in his physical body. You can't have one
without the other. Once the atonement is made then you can receive your
healing.

Numbers 21:6, you know this story. Here
is Israel out in the wilderness. They started to complain and murmur and they
sinned. "And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit
the people and much people of Israel died." God doesn't drive around with
chariots of snakes. Those snakes were out in the wilderness. God didn't just
drop snakes from heaven. The snakes have always been in your life. Certain
things are biting you today. The bible clearly says, when the hedge is open the
serpent will bite. If you have something in your life that's open you will be at
discomfort because the serpent is biting. Some of you could have been bitten
with drugs or alcohol. If you allowed that anger to get back in your life, all
it is is a serpent biting. Many people are dying today because of sin. Verse
7, "Therefore the people came to Moses and said, we have sinned, for we
have spoken against the Lord and against thee; pray unto the Lord, that he take
away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people." The
people recognized their sin. Verse 8, "And the Lord said unto Moses,
Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass,
that everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live."
What did they look at? They looked at the atonement. It was a symbol of the
atonement. If there was no healing in the atonement, why would God have Moses
make a symbol of the atonement. The very thing that bit you, he wants you to
look at. Verse 9, "And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon
a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he
beheld the serpent of brass, he lived." Again, you can't have one
without the other. Once the atonement has been made healing has to come to
your body. The way, means, and time of that healing coming to your body, is
strictly up to God. This is where we need the patience. Whatever you need today,
whatever is in your body or mind, it has to be healed as soon as you begin to
see it. Once you see it, then freedom will come to you.

Remember the story of Nicodemus. In
that story, Jesus is telling Nicodemus how to be saved. John 3:14,
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son
of man be lifted up." Do you know what it was? The same serpent that bit
you for sin was the same serpent that bit you for sickness. It was the
same serpent that brought sin and sickness into the world. Jesus was telling
Nicodemus that not only could he be saved but he was ready to heal his body.
This is what God is saying to you today. The atonement has been made. Jesus
Christ has shed his blood for you. So that means regardless of whatever you have
in your body, you can be healed of it. It's just another way of assuring you
that healing will come to you. The way, means and time will be strictly up to
God. Jesus Christ came along as that symbol, lifted up on the cross, and he
tells you today that if you look to him, you can be saved and healed. You
cannot have one without the other. We have that foundation within us. God is
going to keep going over healing until we get so saturated in our spirit, that
it will permeate into our physical body and will force that healing into you.

The
bible has many healing scriptures for you to read, meditate and believe.
If you will do it daily you will know God's Will for Your Healing.

YOU CAN'T TAKE HEALING OUT OF THE ATONEMENT

PART 2

You can't have one without the other. Healing goes together
with salvation and there is no way you can separate them. But there are many
people who try to take healing out of the atonement. They say, we serve a
sovereign God. Yes, he is; but when it comes to healing, he heals all.They say in God's sovereignty he heals some but he doesn't heal all. That's
a lie, we see that in the scriptures. It is God's desire to heal
everyone. Some people pray, if it be thy will. You don't have to
pray that way any more because it is His will to heal you. 3 John 2
says, "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in
health, even as thy soul prospereth." So it's his will that you
be healed. People tend to fall back on the sovereignty of God when somebody
doesn't get healed. You don't have to make an excuse for God because somebody in
your family dies or somebody in your family doesn't get healed. You
don't have to make an excuse for God. God doesn’t need excuses. One
day we will all know when happened when we get to heaven where we missed it. But
while you are here on earth, it is his desire that everyone gets healed. Why
everyone doesn't get healed, that is a mystery. And the bible talks about
mysteries. It's unfortunate when people die early. It's unfortunate when people
are not healed right away. I'm going to be talking about Betty Baxter. A little
girl, for thirteen years that was bent over like a pretzel. She had prayed and
prayed. Her mother had prayed. They had gone to church every Sunday and
Wednesday. And this little girl, for thirteen years was bent over like a
pretzel. It did not seem fair to anybody in the church or anybody in her
household. It was not fair, why should this little girl be bent over like a
pretzel and have to walk around all her life, staying on the floor looking up.
And it wasn't that God did it. But this is what God did do after thirteen years.
The Spirit of God came to her mother and told her to go and buy her daughter a
dress and a pair of shoes because this weekend she was going to go to church all
dressed up. Now that's hard after thirteen years of this total incapacity to
even have the faith to believe. And this is what we have to overcome. Sometimes
our faith gets so low that we can't even believe for a healing if we want it.
Because we've had the infirmity for so long. I'm sure little Betty Baxter felt
the same way. She'd believed for thirteen years and nothing had ever happened.
I'm sure her faith was at the end of the road when that weekend came. Why did
she have to wait thirteen years? This is something only God knows. The bible
says in Galatians 6:9, "And let us not be weary in well doing; for
in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." It is very hard
for people that have been standing on healing for many years and nothing
happens. It is very easy to grow weary. The other scripture is Hebrews
6:12, "That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and
patience inherit the promises." So if you are low today and you
say God how much longer do I have to wait. I don't understand it. Don't try and
understand it. Only go by what the word of God says. Stand on the word of God
and it will come through.

Isaiah 53:3, "He is despised and rejected of men; a man
of sorrows (pains), and acquainted with grief (diseases); and we hid as it were
our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not." Verse 4,
"Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did
esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." Verse 5, "But he
was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the
chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are
healed." So what do we have in these
three verses? In verse 3 and 4 he is talking about the sickness of all mankind
and in verse 5 he is talking about sin. This is why you cannot take healing out
of the atonement because it's right here. In these verses, he deals with your
sickness and with your sin. You were redeemed from sin but you were also
redeemed from sickness and that is a promise from God. You just can't separate
it any other way. Sickness is a byproduct of sin. Natural gas is a byproduct of
petroleum. A cause and affect. Sin was the cause; sickness was the affect. And
Jesus died for both of those so you sin could be dealt with and your sickness
could be dealt with. He redeemed us from both. So you cannot take healing out of
the atonement.

We gave a few examples a few weeks ago. We talked about three
exoduses that will take place in our life. One was for the Israelites when they
exited out of Egypt. Before they went God told Moses to have the Passover. After
they had the Passover, they took the blood and sprinkled it on the doorpost.
That gave them their atonement. That was their protection when they went inside
their homes. Now God told Moses to lead the people out. Ps 107:37,
"He brought them forth also with silver and gold; and there was not one
feeble person among their tribes." You see, you can't take
healing out of the atonement. The atonement was made, the
blood was shed, and when the people walked out of Egypt they were healed. Now
what happened to Israel? They went through a period prior to Hezekiah,
one of the greatest kings of Israel, and for 275 years Israel had fallen into
sin. And there was never a Passover during that time. And there was great
sickness in that land. So Hezekiah said it was time to get back to what God's
word said, which was to have a Passover. Hezekiah called
for a Passover. He called people from all over to come to that Passover.
They had the Passover and when they did, the first one after 275 years, it said the
people were healed. Think of that.

Another time, God told them how to heal all the lepers over in
Leviticus 14. He gave them a means of being healed. At the end of all they had
to go through, they would go to the priest and the priest would make atonement
for them. Once that atonement was made, then the lepers were healed. You can't
take healing out of the atonement. You can't have one
without the other. It's there. We have to begin to see that and get that
down into our spirits. Be so sure about this healing.

We have another case. Every 50 years Israel would fall back
into sin again. While they were out in the wilderness in the beginning they had
fallen into sin. The people came to Moses and said Moses we had sinned. The
reason they came to Moses was because snakes out in the wilderness were biting
them. And they knew why they were getting bitten. When you sin, you know it. If
you sin long enough the consequence is going to be great. That's the time you
will turn back to Jesus. Moses said, OK you repented, and now God will give you
a means of healing. What did he do? He had them make up a brazen serpent out in
the wilderness and he raised it up. And he told the people, every one of you who
look upon this brazen serpent, I will heal. I will forgive their sins and I will
heal them. Now you say that's not an atonement. It was a type of the atonement.
It's what they had out there in the wilderness. He raised the serpent up and
when they looked, every one of them was healed. Why? Because there is healing in
the atonement. Every time.

Now we know the story about Nicodemus. He was one of the
greatest leaders of Israel, a Pharisee. One of the most intelligent men of the
times. He came to Jesus. He said, I know the works that you are doing. We can
see it. Jesus stopped him and said Nicodemus; you must be born again.
Nicodemus did not understand it. His intelligence was so above what Jesus was
saying to him. Turn to John 3. Nicodemus tried to reason it out. Many people
today try to reason being born again. They can't understand it. Many times we
stop right after the introduction, Nicodemus you must be born again. But if you
go a little bit further in that story. Why would Jesus talk to Nicodemus like
this? He wanted to know about salvation but Jesus went a step further. This has
nothing to do with the present day of Nicodemus. Jesus knew he had studied the
word of God. Verse 14, "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up." Now if there was no
connection between sin and sickness, why was one symbol used in the wilderness?
The symbol of the serpent. He was telling Nicodemus the same serpent that bit
you for sin is the same serpent that bit you for sickness. Verse 15,
"That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life." The serpent brought sin and sickness into this world.
Jesus has come here to get it out. And he does it through the atonement. Through
going to the cross for you. Your sins were covered on that cross. That's why you
can be healed today. It's a promise from God.

In Psalm 103 are all the benefits of Calvary. Verse
3, "Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases."
Notice the order. In order to receive a blessing your sin has to be forgiven
first. Blessings will never come when you are in sin. They can't. Cause and
affect. Jesus did this on the cross. You didn't have to do anything. That's why
you will have an eternal home in heaven. The sin was dealt with, now healing can
be dealt with. When that serpent bit the people, you could say when that serpent
bit Adam and Eve in the garden, spiritual death came upon man. That's what we
are going to be looking at. The spiritual death. Jesus Christ came to remove
that spiritual death and when you look to the cross, that's when you're sin and
healing will be dealt with.

Mark 2 is a great faith chapter. Read verses 1-4.
Verse 5, "When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy,
Son thy sins be forgiven thee." Notice Jesus didn't ask him
what he did, but he said he would forgive his sins. Now in verse 6-8, you have
all the Pharisees. They said only God could forgive sins. So who are you to
forgive sins? And they started to reason in their heads. Notice the response of
Jesus in verse 9, "Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the
palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and
walk? " This is how healing works. What is easier to say a
person's sins are forgiven or that they need a physical healing in their body?
He said either one I can do. Really what Jesus was saying to them was, what is
the difference to forgive sins, which is a result of spiritual death or to say
to the physical body be healed which is a result of spiritual death? In both
cases, he was dealing with spiritual death. It was because of one person, Satan.
So it didn't matter whether he said, forgive thy sins or to say to the physical
body be healed. In both cases he was dealing with Satan's lordship over their
life. That's where you were before you receive Jesus as your Lord and Saviour.
Many things started in your system before you were born again. Are
you hearing what God is saying today? Before you were born again, you
were messed up. When you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour, he
began to straighten you out. And the reason why sometimes healing takes longer
to come is because he has to straighten everything out. Not that God can't heal
you just like that. He can. But Satan started a process in your body. Can you
see this? Many of us have had generational curses. You wonder why all these
things happen? It takes years and years to get that generational curse out of
that line. There's a process in it. But God somehow works it out as you get born
again. And there are some people and I will never understand this, get healed
right away. It's all throughout the bible. Some have to wait, why? These are
only things God knows. But in the meantime we can't blame God for these things
that are happening. We may not understand why somebody died until years go by.
And then when we get put in a position, God is able to minister to us, to give
us an understanding. Even then you might not have the whole picture. We don't
know. But it's because of Satan's lordship over man. Now we just looked at one
example of sin.

Let's take another example and look at the sickness part.
Luke 13:10, "And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the
Sabbath." Verse 11, "And behold there was a woman which had a spirit
of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift
up herself." Verse 12, "And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him
and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity." Verse 13,
"And he laid his hands on her; and immediately she was made straight, and
glorified God." In verse 14 the Pharisees are still criticizing Jesus. This
one is on the Sabbath. Verse 15, "The Lord then answered him and said, Thou
hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from
the stall, and lead him away to watering?" Verse 16, "And ought not
this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo these
eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?" Satan
bound that woman up. It is so clear.

In John 5 we are going to look at a case of sin and sickness
together. This was on the day of Pentecost. Many of people were sitting around
the pool, which in the Hebrew was called Bethesda, having five porches.
Verse 3; "In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt,
withered, waiting for the moving of the water." This was a
Jewish tradition. God allowed John to put this in the bible but it is not the
way God wants to heal. It is a weakness. But God allowed John to tell this
story. Here's the picture. There is water in front of them. An angel comes down
and touches the water. As soon as the water moves, the people that jump in the
water got healed. Here's this man in the back of the crowd, he saw that angel
move that water but he wasn't healed. Why wasn't he healed? Because he couldn't
get to the pool fast enough. The anointing fell and he's still in the back. He's
trying to get down to get healed. But there is no way he can get in the water.
But all the people who went before him were healed. The man that can run the
fastest can get healed. Now do you think that's God's way of healing? No, it
isn't. It's a means that God put in the bible because it was Jewish tradition. Verse
4, "For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled
the water; whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was
made whole of whatsoever disease he had." Many people today are
jumping on airplanes and going to Lourdes. The Catholics believe that Mary has
touched that water. An angel has touched that water. Now do you think that is
God's means of healing you? No, it's not. God wants to heal you. He just showed
it to you in the atonement. The atonement never brought up water.
It's the atonement, the shed blood of Jesus Christ that is going to bring you
healing. So God in mercy and compassion puts other things there so people
have something to hold onto. People have to have something to hold onto. And
today if you will hold onto that word of God and not let it go, not grow weary,
stand in faith, God will heal you. And that's what
happened here. Verse 5, "And a certain man was there, which had an
infirmity thirty and eight years." Verse 6, "When Jesus saw him lie,
and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt
thou be made whole?" Trying to build up the man's faith. Verse 7, "The
impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, toput me into the pool; but while I am coming, another steppeth down
before me." Verse 8, "Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed and
walk." Verse 10, "The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It
is the Sabbath day; it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed." Verse 11,
"He answered them, He that made me whole, the same saidunto
me, Take up thy bed and walk." Verse 12, "Then asked they him, What
man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed and walk?" Verse 13,
"And he that was healed wist not who it was; for Jesus had conveyed himself
away, a multitude being in that place." Verse 14, "Afterward Jesus
findeth him in the temple and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole; sin no
more, lest a worse thing come unto thee."
Here's a case of both sickness and sin in healing.

John 9:1, "And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was
blind from his birth." Verse 2, "And his disciples asked him, saying,
Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
This was eastern thinking. (Exodus 34:7) This was the thinking of the old time.
Verse 3, "Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents;
but that the works of God should be made manifest in him."
Jesus was saying, it's not because your parents sinned, or because you've done
something wrong, but it's because of Satan's lordship over you. When you become
born again, that lordship is broken and you can put yourself into position to be
healed. The sins of the parents go back to three or four generations and if you
are not born again, that's why families are so messed up today, because they
have never been dealt with and they never received Jesus. So what can you
expect? You're born into this earth and the sin of the parent is going to come
upon you. It's a generational curse. But once you get born again that
generational curse is broken and you can be set free of it. If God could just
get you to see this. Again, if there's only one aspect of redemption, why are
there two elements in communion? 1 Corinthians 11:28, "But let a
man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that
cup." One for sin and one for sickness.Verse 29, "For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and
drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body." Now
why didn't he say the Lord's blood? Because these people were sick, like the
people who were sick out in the wilderness. And they did not properly discern
the Lord's body. They understood the sin but they did not understand that they
could be healed by his stripes. Verse 30,
"For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep."
Verse 31, "For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged."